Memories
by badly-knitted
Summary: Ryo knows he should get on with packing, but it's not easy preparing to leave the place he's been so happy. Set shortly after Like Like Love. Written for fic promptly.


**Title:** Memories

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Ryo, Dee.

 **Rating:** PG-13

 **Setting:** Shortly after Like Like Love.

 **Summary:** Ryo knows he should get on with packing, but it's not easy preparing to leave the place he's been so happy.

 **Word Count:** 988

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'FAKE, Dee/Ryo, As Dee helps Ryo move, they remember all the time they've spent in that apartment,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Ryo stood in the middle of his living room, looking around himself helplessly. There was a pile of boxes, bubble wrap, and old newspapers ready and waiting for him begin packing up his life in preparation for moving but there was so much to do that he suddenly had no idea where to start; it was like he was rooted to the spot. Then a warm hand touched his shoulder, startling him; he'd all but forgotten Dee was there.

"Ryo? You sure about this? Completely sure? I mean about movin' in with me. I know it's a big step, and if you don't feel ready…"

Ryo cut his lover off. "I'm sure, I wouldn't have said yes if I wasn't, it's just… So much has happened in these rooms. When I moved in I never imagined I'd become a single father and fall in love with the guy I worked with." He turned to Dee with a wistful smile. "Part of me wishes I could turn back time and do it all again, only do it better this time and not make the same mistakes I made the first time around. I wasted so much time worrying about silly things when we could've been together the way we are now."

Dee shook his head. "That time wasn't wasted, babe; you had your hands full with the kid. I won't lie; it frustrated me like crazy, but I knew he had to be your top priority. Thanks to you he turned out pretty well; he's got a chance at a great future."

"He's a good kid, Dee; he just needed someone to believe in him, the way Mother and Jess believed in you when you were a kid." Ryo sighed as he took in the familiar surroundings. "I'm really going to miss this place though. For the first time since I moved out of my parents' house, I feel like I'm leaving part of myself behind. I've been happy here, made a lot of great memories."

Sliding his arms around Ryo, Dee kissed him, pulling back to smile at his lover. "Tell me some of them."

Ryo frowned. "Like what?"

"I don't know!" Dee laughed. "They're your memories, dumbass! You got a favourite moment from all your years here?"

Gazing into the distance past Dee's shoulder, Ryo thought back over the almost eight years since he'd moved into the apartment that had been his home for so long, then broke into a smile as he thought of something. "The day Bikky came charging in all excited because he got an 'A' in a test. First 'A' he'd ever gotten; you should've seen his face, I thought he might burst from sheer happiness. I was so proud of him."

Dee raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? Your favourite memory of this place has to do with the brat?"

"One of my favourites," Ryo smirked, then sternly, "and don't call him that!"

"Whatever. Just sayin'; wouldn't be my choice."

"I suppose not; you weren't even here that day. So what's yours?"

Now it was Dee's turn to smirk, a wicked gleam in his green eyes. "I don't even need to think; that time I came over when you'd been off work with a fever and found you turned on and rarin' to go. That was some night! You'd never been so eager, so enthusiastic… just so damned HOT!"

Ryo's cheeks heated up at Dee's words and he buried his face against his partner's shoulder. "Oh God, you would pick that one, after all the time I've spent trying to forget! I wasn't myself that night! It was the cough syrup and the wine in Melinda's soup!"

Chuckling, Dee kissed Ryo's hair. "Don't sell yourself short; that was the first night I got to see how passionate you can be when you just relax, let go of all your inhibitions, and just take what you want. I don't know why you're still so embarrassed about it; you're like that most of the time now."

"I know, and that's not really what embarrasses me about that night…"

"What is then?"

Ryo groaned; he could picture it so clearly in his head. "The morning after, when Bikky walked in and saw me sitting on the bedding you'd spread on the floor, naked, and he knew what we'd been doing! The look of horror on his face…I just wanted the floor to swallow me up. I could hardly look at him for weeks after without remembering…"

"Didn't do him any harm; he got over it."

How Dee could be so casual about it was beyond Ryo. Then again, he hadn't been the one who was naked; he'd been sitting on the sofa fully dressed. "Bikky may have, but I'm not sure the same can be said about me." Ryo smiled wryly. "There are some things no parent wants their kid to see; that's one memory I won't be sorry to leave behind." A little reluctantly he extracted himself from Dee's arms and took a step back from his lover, turning to take in the contents of the room, resolved now to get on with the job. "Better get started I guess; all this stuff isn't going to pack itself."

"What d'ya want me to do?" Dee asked, rolling up his sleeves to get stuck in.

"You could start on the books, CDs, and DVDs while I wrap the breakables?" Ryo turned his instructions into a question.

"Consider it done." Grabbing an empty box from the stack, Dee strode off down the room to start emptying the shelves so they could be dismantled.

With one last look around the apartment, Ryo picked up a box and some bubble wrap and set to work. He might be leaving this place, but he wouldn't be leaving behind anything that mattered; along with his belongings, all his memories, good and bad, would be going with him. It was a comforting thought.

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The End


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